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What ABC Dialogue captures · Enabling and using ABC mode during a lesson · What students see · Reviewing dialogue patterns
1
What ABC Dialogue captures
- Build tags a contribution that extends or agrees with the previous speaker.
- Challenge tags a contribution that questions or offers an alternative to the previous speaker.
- Anchor is the first contribution in a dialogue chain; later Build or Challenge moves link back to it.
- The first tagged response in a discussion starts a chain. Each subsequent B or C extends it.
- An implicit agreement — when discussion continues without a tagged move — is inferred at review time and shown in the lesson summary.
2
Enabling and using ABC mode during a lesson
- Open Focus Pane and toggle ABC Dialogue on, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Shift-B (Ctrl-Shift-B on Windows).
- When ABC mode is active, tap any student tile directly to open their enlarged tile with B and C buttons.
- Tap B to tag the contribution as a Build, or C to tag it as a Challenge. The tile closes once you choose.
- The B and C buttons only appear on tiles you tap directly — they are not part of the Ask Next flow.
- If you make an error, use Undo. The tag is removed and the chain state reverts.
- To log a contribution without a dialogue tag, tap Contributed or Passed as normal.
3
What students see
- ABC Dialogue is a teacher-facing tracking tool. Nothing in the student view changes when it is active.
- Students do not see B, C, or chain indicators at any point during the lesson.
4
Reviewing dialogue patterns
- Lesson Summary shows each dialogue chain with the sequence of moves made.
- Class Trends shows chain coverage — the share of lessons that included at least one chain — and median chain length.
- Use these views over time to notice whether a wider range of students are contributing to extended discussion.
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